


Documenting The Second Great War

by epitomizedTyrant



Series: RWBY VS Remnant [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen, RNJR Needs a Hug, Remnant needs therapists, This wont make sense without reading Alternative Change in Lifestyle, _WBY Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-15
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-05-07 04:32:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14663361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epitomizedTyrant/pseuds/epitomizedTyrant
Summary: A Mistralan Documentary considers the second great war four years after its end.A collection of memorabilia from postwar media.Unused Interviews and footage.And more.





	1. Chapter 1

               _The screen lights up, the camera is panning over a battlefield in eastern Vacuo, a few destroyed paladins are being pushed away by a Vale armored division Rhino Tank, a Pawn class Valian Mecha is scanning the horizon, a long cannon protrudes from its left shoulder. In the distance an Atlas airship floats menacingly over a city._

_Eventually the camera lands on a disheveled Coco Adel, who is standing with her team somberly looking out at the besieged city._

_Orchestral music swells and the screen cuts to a desert scene where the cameraman is riding in the back of a four seater vehicle, the edge of a machine gun can be seen, and the occupant of the passenger seat is occupied by Yang Xiao Long in a leather coat who is holding an assault rifle casually to her side._

_It cuts again to a shot of a two teams of Vale huntsman charging through a ruined city toward an army of Atlesian automatons._

_It cuts to a brief shot of team RWBYs backs, then to a very brief shot of a stylized rose painted in what appears to be blood on the side of a wall, dead atlas soldiers scattered around the floor, then the scene cuts to a title card._

_The Second Great War: Part Seven, Huntsman of Vale; Episode 1_

_The scene shifts to an older looking man in a library room that has a distinctly autumn pallet._

_“If there was any one thing that won the war, something so distinctly powerful we can attribute the victory to, it was the Huntsman of Vale. They are a league apart from their peers, it is simply undeniable. There are a plethora of reasons that scholars have put forward. The wildness of Vale, the sheer number and strength of the Grimm that Plague eastern Sanus, the Huntsman schools, and Beacon in particular. All of these are… components of what make the Valian Huntsman strongest and most dangerous fighting force on remnant. But the most important component is the culture that gave rise to these warriors and emboldened even the foot soldiers of Vales armies.”_

_The scene cuts to an Valian infantryman in a trench. His armor is standard for the Mistralan front, a rolled steel chest plate and shoulder pauldrons, all painted olive green are strapped over a camouflage jumpsuit. He wraps a bandage around a bullet wound on his left bicep, and pulls his long rifle back up as he yells and whips his rifle back up to the trench edge and squeezes off a series of shots. Beyond him a Rhino tank is advancing, its main gun firing at will._

_The scene cuts back to the old man._

_“Vale is a country of warriors. Through and through, from birth, every part of the culture is… well. It glorifies the huntsman, certainly, but more important is this code of honor that is instilled into each and every person. There’s this idea that you can’t give up, ever, when you fight.” As he speaks movie clips, images of promotional posters that bear weapons and warriors, a short pan across a Vale shopping district where three dust shops and two wepons shops are clearly visible, all move across the screen in a collage of the dummies guide to Vale pop culture. “According to the people of Vale there are two forms of honorable death, to die of old age or sickness, or to die fighting. Anyone who has seen Valian media will realize upon looking back that when it has become clear that a character, even ones in the background, will be unable to escape from a battle they invariably turn around and strike at it, even if they are unarmed.”_

_The camera cuts to a grievously wounded soldier shaking her head and tying a rag around the bloody stump of her left arm, the date on the timestamp tells the viewer it comes from the second year of the war. Her hands are shaking and she is telling the camera man to run away. in the background you can hear the distinctive sound of Atlas automatons advancing. She sighs, grits her teeth and pulls out a sidearm. A new voice is heard shouting from off screen. The camera whips around to a suit of black armor with red highlights walking towards them, a tattered cloak and hood of crimson obscure the upper helm from view. Whats visible of the helmet is sharply angled and occasionally crackles with a silver aura. The armor itself is light, apparently serving more to hold extra ammunition for the heavy red rifle cradled in her arms. Ruby harshly tells them both to go as she calmly walks around the corner. After a moment the sound of gunfire and metal on metal screeching can be heard, the camera seems to start toward the action before being pulled away by the armless woman._

_The camera then cuts to a scene of Jaune Arc in a heavy suit of hi tech armor, a knight-reminiscent helm clipped to the suits hip as he supports a wounded soldier hobbling out of the line of fire. Dust bolts occasionally burst overhead. “This search for an honorable death is part of the phenomenon of equality among the Vale ranks. Every fighting member sees each other as equals, the huntsman and the foot soldiers and the generals. As we discussed with the Atlesian military, the “Specialists” were often at odds with the corps, and the officers were often at odds with the specialists and etc. Vale is different. Even when they disagree there is a sense of unity among the people of Vale, Huntsman risk themselves to protect wounded troops in ways the Atlesian troops would never bother.” As Jaune hands the infantryman off to someone else he hurriedly slams his helmet back on as a Paladin rounds the corner. His shout of ‘go, run! Ill hold them!’ is muffled as he draws his sword and shield just in time to block a volley of fire from the mecha, his white aura extending outwards from his shield in a protective wall of light. “Nora, demolish the building at two o’clock!”A pink suit of armor runs past the camera towards Jaune, Magnihild ready to swing in a wide arc. Two weighty pods on Nora’s back shift up to angle over her shoulders and as she sprints past fire erupts from them launching grenades in a short arc._

_“The infantrymen venerate and idolize the huntsmen, within their own ranks they are scene as guardians and protectors, and not the avenging angels of death that their foes see.”_

_Before they impact it cuts away again this time to a man of about 29 years. A little nameplate in the bottom right reminds us that this is Belfast Kaede, an infantryman in the fifth Valian Infantry Corps. Previously he had been asked about various parts of the campaign he had been involved in. Someone off screen asks “Can you tell us about the huntsmen you worked with Mr. Kaede?” He leans back and smiles, “Yeah, uh, I guess I should start with the first time I saw a huntsman on the battlefield? It was short but, damn… damn. She was younger than me, couldn’t have been more than twenty at the time. We were stuck in some trench on Mistral, we had been fighting against an Atlas ranger division off and on for about a day, but then about a dozen bloody dropships showed up and started dropping those bots. We had called for backup a couple days ago, but all they sent was one Bullhead. We were pissed when we saw those… kids. They were still kids then, even the big guy. So we were pissed, both at the minimal reinforcement and the fact they just sent four kids out to die with us. And then the assault came. I was in this trench, occasionally peaking up and blasting a bot, but there were hundreds, you know? And then I turn to see Coco jogging through the trench with her little hand bag towards the crater that was our spray and pray emplacement a few minutes ago. I shrug and go back to what im doing, and then the next time I peak out I hear this whir from my left, and then theres this thunderous sound and I just see bots tumbling like dominos as she walks forward just slowly mowing down hundreds of these things like it’s a thing to do. I never heard much of what the other three did that day, our division had already taken so many losses they redistributed us, but we won. Team CFVY… I worked under them several times. They always impressed me. All of them are so kind, even if Velvet is the only one who doesn’t try and hide it behind sass and posturing.”_

_“There were a lot of huntsman on the battlefield, so I cant really remember all of them. Uhm, do you want the highlights or are there specific teams…?” The interviewer shuffles a paper offscreen and then asks “did you ever work under Team RNJR or Team CRSD?” He sighs, a deep sad sound. His face drops a little. “RNJR… yeah… I actually met them a few times. They were even younger, the Reaper was only what, seventeen then? Yeah. They were so sweet and kind when I first saw them. Those first few months, when Vale was trying to extract its people from mistral, they tried to focus on getting the wounded out, helping where they could. They were avoiding the worst of the killing. Not like they were pacifists, they were just young. I… one day in a little abandoned village I uh, eavesdropped on them a little. They were sitting around a campfire. Jaune, the Knight, he sounded so sad, and the Valkyrie asked him what was wrong. Apparently that was his nineteenth birthday. The next time I served with them was in year two. They actually had been spit up by the command structure, but happened to be deployed to the same battlefield. They didn’t talk as much. They were still… still kind, and gentle, but they weren’t so lively. Didn’t shy from the fighting either, hell, they were running toward the fighting then. And then in year three… the Menagerie invasion happened. You hear about that, and the Bloodrose… I almost couldn’t believe it. I had met Ruby, eh, Reaper, before. You know? She was barely nineteen, she was young and kind and sweet… That war changed all of us, but some far more than others.”_

_He’s quiet for a moment. “Now team CRSD, they didn’t change. And good for them. Crazy bunch that they are. The first time I met them they charged at the enemy, the two big ones with their shields up and the  little sniper riding on the big guys back. That crazy sharp toothed girl with her banner, I’ve never seen a dust mage like that. Hopefully never will again. The last time I saw em they were charging in, Although the sniper was riding the big girl. I never got their names, unfortunately”…_

_The camera cuts to Coco, apparently sitting in her apartment with the interviewer. In the background you can see the living room through a door, and Velvet and Yatsuhashi appear to be playing video games on the couch. A little timestamp shows that this interview was shot about three years after the end of the war._

_“So miss Adel, lets start at the beginning.. of the end I suppose. What was it like, after the war ended?” “It was… well, for us it was wonderful. You know, we are fighters, hell no huntsman is a pacifist, but we all had other plans too. Hunting isn’t any… most huntsmen have lives. So, for us it was easy to move on. We had eachother to lean on when the nights got long. I wont pretend everyone had it so easy. Like those RWBY girls… you know, its hard to compare them to what they used to be. We were… well, I wont say friends we only knew eachother for a few months before the war. But we were one of the few people who knew them back then at all. I suppose a lot of your interviewees have mentioned those girls huh?” Coco appears to have picked up on something in the interviewers face. “Yeah, well, its hard to escape them. They were everywhere. That war… well… You’d have to know them, to know why they were so important.”_

_The screen goes black for a moment, and the a title card fades in. In small letters above it says TEAM 1, Above the letters R W B Y. slowly parts of the black lighten revealing the silhouettes of team RWBY, and then color fades in on their weapons, Ruby’s is held menacingly with the blade of Crescent rose in full view, Weiss’s Myrtenaster is held in front of her commandingly, Blake is halfway through pulling Gambol Shrouds smaller blade out, and Yang’s remaining Ember Cylica and her robotic forearm are crossed in front of her._

_The camera returns to the man in the library, this time with a new closer angle that reveals a well known book in his lap. Its title reads ‘Vale; the Warriors Paradise’. “Team RWBY, despite only officially existing for a little over three months, was undoubtedly the most influential team in the war. There are so few events where one of them isn’t present. Oftentimes even when they are not present they effect the fallout. Such as the invasion of menagerie by Atlas, none of them were there for the invasion, and it was ultimately driven back by the Vale forces that were launched to defend Menagerie, but after being enraged by the attack on neutral civilians Ruby Rose and Blake Belladonna performed a series of attacks, starting with the infamous Blood Rose massacre, which only miss Rose was party to, and ending with the killing of half of Atlas’s military command structure at the battle of fort Frostvalde, where team RNJR and Blake Belladonna assaulted the once thought invincible fortress and utterly crushed their opposition. That battle will be covered in a later episode, as its consequences were far reaching and the battle itself is a strategic anomaly.”_

_“Team RWBY’s story is complex. The events that created its members each could be its own documentary, from the previous strongest huntsman team, Team STRQ, Which included the parents of Ruby and Yang, the legendary huntsman Taiyang Xiaolong, the mysterious Summer Rose, and the bandit Raven Branwen, the uncle that raised them, Qrow Branwen… Weiss Schnee was the heiress to one of the most profitable companies in the most profitable business. Blake Belladonna, even at that age, had been a member of the White Fang, had fought for faunas rights under her parents, the Patriarch and Matriarch of menagerie.”_

_“Ruby Rose is somewhat of an enigma.” As he spoke a picture of Ruby faded in. She was young, getting her photo taken for signals yearbook, her usual black and red outfit exchanged for black loose fitting jeans and a red hoodie. She was smiling, her fifteen year old face lacked a single scar or wrinkle, and her eyes were warm in the way that only children appear. “In her early life she was considered a normal girl, if a top class student in Signal academy. She never showed up on any radars until she stopped a robbery by the criminal Roman Torchwick and was drafted into Beacon by Ozpin himself. Despite being moved more than a year ahead in school, she performed well as a student in the short time leading up to the Vytal festival. Then, when that tragedy happened she, and the surviving members of Team JNPR, disappeared after her teammates effectively disbanded Team RWBY. During the time that they disappeared, about a year before they turned up at the second major battle of the war in Vacuo, no one knows where they went and they have kept quiet about it. Rumors of appearances in villages have circulated, but these rumors come from villages in three separate kingdoms so they are heavily doubted.”_

_“Her semblance propels her in bursts of rose petals, and eventually she harnessed the ability to a point where she could fly with the power.” The screen started showing clips of Ruby launching around with her semblance, starting with the Vytal festival, then in a training operation in the early war, and then cutting to Ruby sitting in a bulkhead, unconcerned as bullets shot past. The cameraman was sitting across from her, and as he filmed she grew more and more annoyed. The she jumped out of the side and turned into a red missile hurtling through the sky. The cameraman leaned out in time to see her rend a pair of Atlas gunships that had been harassing ground units in half with arcs of silver aura that radiated from her scything blade, and then keep flying to engage farther away._

_“By the third year of the war she learned to use her semblance and aura to increase her own strength and speed, at first minorly, but by the end of the war…” A different Ruby was visible now. Decked out in matte black armor, and her crimson cloak billowing behind her she  leaped at an atlesian mecha and delivered a devastating spin kick, smashing its cockpit into a crater and sending it stumbling back to lie still. “Even the few experts who were allowed to examine her have no idea how much aura she truly has, for a short time she was considered a demi god by a fringe religious group that saw aura as a form of holy connection. She is believed to be second only to Jaune Arc in terms of pure volume.”_

_“But, beyond all that…” A new scene cut in, Ruby stood silhouetted in front of four Atlesian huntsmen. The camera appeared to be somewhat damaged. A large javelin protruded from her side, and slowly she pulled it out, a sticky strand of blood connecting the tip still, until she tossed it aside. In one hand she held crescent rose, and in the other a crimson plated assault rifle that she pulled from her magnetic holster. She gave a battle cry and walked forward, slowly and purposefull. This clip was framed differently, and an astute eye would be able to see the diagonal distortions running across the screen, indicating the footage had been reoriented. The astute eye might also notice that this footage was taken from a downed atlas mecha. “… beyond all that Ruby Rose was capable of incredible destruction even on her last legs. When pushed her enemies have seen a feral side to the warrior.”_

_The scene cut back to Coco Adel. “Ruby? Fuck, man. That’s a heavy way to start off…. Yeah, like I said, I knew her, way back when. She was…. Smaller. She always… fuck, ya know, talking to her now she seems so, I don’t know, reserved. Around most people, hell even her sister. Ive only seen her open up to Blake, and even then… anyway, yeah, she was huggy, and jumpy before Vytal. Very open and easy to engage with. Hell, even after Vytal, she was a little tired when I saw her in year one, and by year two… it was the menagerie invasion where it all changed. Before all that she helped us build the CFVY machine, mostly that howitzer in its chest but she also contributed to the armor some… We fought together a few times. She… well, all of RNJR got deemed powerful enough to act as individual units, so she got deployed with us a few times. Its crazy, seeing someone almost four years younger than you and knowing for a fact they could completely destroy your ass.” She looked off into the distance. “She was so angry, at the end of the war. She never told me why, just something about command fucking her over. Never knew what that was about. She always liked General Drei, so maybe it was something one of the other two did that stuck around. She really shut herself off after the war was over. Only talked to Blake and Weiss for… months as far as I know. Then she just came back out of the woodwork, caught up with a few of her old friends, us and team SSSN, a year and a half ago.”_

_The voice of the narrating man was back. “After the war she was more than happy to fade back into obscurity, refusing interviews and spending her days hunting grimm and bandits.” A video of Ruby sitting so still in the aftermath of a battle that you might think it was a photo if not for a tip gently flapping cloak, reclining in her bloodied armor against a pile of rubble, slowly faded to black._

_Against that black a woman’s voice broke the silence. “Weiss Schnee is not an enigma in anyway. The daughter of Jacques Schnee and heiress to the dust empire created by her grandfather, she was always destined for greatness. However growing up in an abusive household was hard for her, testing her mental state repeatedly over the years. She was driven not only by her father but her own ambition to become a singer, then a huntress, and finally a CEO feared around the world.” Short clips of her training and matches during the vytal festival are played here. “Unfortunately her dreams of being a huntress were cut short by the fall of Beacon Academy, when she was forced to return to her father’s home and there had her status of heiress rescinded and given to Whitley Schnee. This turned out to be a great mistake. Immediately at the announcement stocks dropped as much as thirty percent and continued to fall when Weiss herself ran away and appeared in haven with her teammates Blake and Yang.”_

_“Of her team she moved around the least during the war, though her movements line up very closely with the war itself. Year one she spent in Vacuo, year two in Vale, year three in occupied Mistral, and then the final months of the war she fought in the final Atlas offense.” Short moments from the mentioned times appear, Weiss reading a map and looking out across a desert, Weiss sliding Myrtenaster out of an atlesian storm trooper on the Vale docks, Weiss chatting with Yang in front of the floating islands, Weiss standing on the railing of a massive machine that was slowly making its way through a frozen tundra. An army was leading it, beyond her a massive barrel armored with thick red plates pointed out at the horizon, at its tip a small red blotch could be seen._

_“Weiss Schnee is an unmatched prodigy, her skills with dust manipulation are unmatched and her semblance only bolsters this further, while also letting her use ice dust to summon phantoms of things she has killed.” A pair of knights glowing blue knights were battling an Paladin 2-90 while Weiss watched. The video changed again after she threw a confident smirk at the camera while the paladin was torn apart in the distance._

_“If Ruby was a warrior of pure destruction, then Weiss was one of pure defense.  Where Ruby ran head first and blade drawn into danger, Weiss stood like a wall against invaders. Given time and access to enough ice dust she was a one woman army, and without it she remains an incredibly adept duelist and dust manipulator, and her arsenal of incredibly rare and powerful runes included acceleration runes and artillery like fire bolts.”_

_“in addition to her battlefield prowess she is also a shrewd and merciless business woman. After the war with the damage the Schnee Dust Company had taken under the hands of Jacques and Whitley she was able to easily procure the company. This did not sit well with Jacques and Whitley, who attempted a violent coup with a small army of Atlas war veterans who either had grudges against Weiss herself, who many considered a traitor, or were simply angry at the Atlas government which had withheld pentions and remuneration after its crushing defeat. However the night they chose to attack was a poor choice indeed.” The screen cuts to a scroll camera. Weiss, while clearly tipsy, is supporting a completely smashed Ruby, who herself is holding the scroll. They are in the middle of a small party in Weiss’s mansion, which she has apparently given the all clear to completely destroy as some sort of final middle finger to her father._

_“_ TONIGHT” _Ruby slurred_ “we are hear to shelebrate this bad biptchs takeover and complete ownage, of her cunt loser of a father and snotty ass brat of a brother! And the beginning of a new age of peace and bros-bros-prosperity in Atlas.” _The two of them start giggling uncontroleably, and in the background Yatsuhashi jumps and smashes through what appears to be a pool table. At the same time all hell breaks loose as Atlas marines smash through the windows. Weiss gives an excited intake of breath and shouts “_ YOU GOT ME A PRESENT!? _” at Ruby who grins and answers “_ Yeah but chu have to share! Itsha family presnt. _” And the camera cuts off, but not before blue atlas stormtroopers armed with heavy blades rise behind her, although no dust is apparent on her party clothes._

_None of the strike force survived. Whitley and Jacques, who led the attack, did survive. Whitley was jailed with minimal injuries, and Jacques lost his left leg and genitals to extreme frostbite, and was also jailed, though his list of crimes was extensive and Weiss’s legal team saw him put away for life. In the three years between the end of the war and the making of this series she has built the SDC to double its previous size and now owns the primary manufacturers of scrolls and the two largest fast food corporations in Mistral, though her means of acquiring them are suspect._

_**NEXT EPISODE: BLAKE BELLADONNA: FAUNAS LEADER, YANG XIAO LONG: THE DRAGON OF VALE, TEAM JNPR: THE MOURNING**_

 

               **SCROLLMD ENTRY FOR HUNTSMANS LAMENT**

 

               Deathseekers Disease, also known as The Huntsman’s Lament is a mental disorder that occurs in huntsmen. The disorder is characterized by suicidal ideation and the compulsion to die in battle. This is often phrased as “Dying in battle after fighting as hard as possible until the very end.” Most commonly occurs in older huntsman, though much younger cases have been found.

               Symptoms include:

  * Cutting off contact.
  * Acting emotionally distant.
  * Aggressive combat style.
  * Engaging in dangerous activities, such as solo hunting and pursueing S-Class bounties
  * Auditory hallucination
  * Nightmares
  * Disassociation
  * Compulsive behaviors



               There is no known cure beyond therapy and time. The disorder is also heavily linked to other types of trauma, including physical trauma, torture, loss of limbs, survivors guilt, Huntsmans Folly, loss of will, and repeated extreme aura exhaustion.

               In Mistral, Vacuo, and Atlas it affects approximately 34% of huntsmen. Vale huntsmen experience it at nearly double the rate, and more consistently experience fatal consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is harder than i thought writing a fake documentary.
> 
> I wanted to add a lot more, but, damn. I'm really not into plotting out a war that occurred concurrently on four separate continents with a bunch of crazy powerful warriors running around. like, i have a very clear idea of all the major events, but to really do an in depth documentary type things i would need to track and plot so much info i just don't have the will power to do.
> 
> Anyway, eventually we will get the rest of the main cast, and maybe a bit detailing the major battles and snippets of things that don't get brought up in the story proper.


	2. Somewhere in Atlas...

_A series of Atlesian movie posters rest on a dust shelf,  resting in dusty frames. It’s a collection, hidden away and nearly forgotten._

_“Deep Freeze” the first reads. It’s a horror movie adapted from a battle during the Great War. The cover shows an army fleeing from a sillhoutte in the distance, holding a rapier and backed by hundreds of stylistic pale white grimm._

_“The Blood Rose” is written in gore text across the bottom of a simpler poster. It, like the first, is a horror movie based off of a real massacre during the Great War. This one is two toned, black and red. It is a blood styled recreation of Ruby’s Rose._

_“The Fall of Atlas” is written across a third in blocky letters. It depicts Atlas soldiers lined up on the wall where the final battle of the war took place. In the distance through a snow storm the sillhoutte of the Guillotine Rose is visible, an ominous red light where the bore of the railgun would be._

_“Claw and Fang” is written across the fourth poster. It was an arthouse film protesting Atlesian war crimes against the faunas, and depicts a woman with cat ears holding a blocky cleaver standing defiantly before an Atlas Airship._

_“Rangers” Is scrawled across the fourth. It is a tragic film about an attack on a Valian stronghold. “When the Atlesian army was about to win…” is written below the title. It depicts a scene from the ground level, an Atlesian general and a soldier are looking up at a bullhead that has four figures leaping from the sides._

_“The Dragons Roar” is an art house film about a fiery warrior who learns to control and suppress her temper and become a hero, and her sister who learns to let go and become a tragic weapon. It depicts a woman in a wide horse stance roaring in a pillar of fire._

_“Restoration” is a film commissioned by the SDC during the reconstruction of Atlas and Vale. It depicts Weiss Schnee commanding an army of stylized pale blue Atlas Mecha to rebuild a town._

_Dozens more posters lay rolled up or stacked on various shelves. A few pieces of merchandise are out as well. A red cloak with a single bleeding black rose emblazoned across its back. A cheap Halloween recreation of Myrtnaster. A short cape emblazoned with the symbol of the White Fang in a cartoonish style. A limited run toy version of Bumblebee. And a dozen more things scattered about._


	3. Chapter 3

 

UNUSED FOOTAGE- TEAM RNJR

 

_ Ruby is looking away from the screen, reclining in the interview room with a thick fur-lined crimson cloak and a shifty gleam in her eye. She has a metal coffee cup in her right hand. _

_ “Its a damned thing, war. We were the good guys. Without a doubt. But... Atlas... A lot of Atlesians are like Weiss, like Flynt... they are good people. They were good people, caught up in something awful. I was... behind lines once. It was early, in the war. Met a girl. Cute, had purple hair and a fire in her belly. She... We shared a few nights. She had these dumb little tattoos of computer chips all along her collar bone.” _

_ Ruby looks away from the camera, but not before it catches a listlessness in her silver eyes. _

_ “She hated that they were fighting against Vale. She had family there. She thought that Atlas was wrong. But... What choice did she have. She could either submit or draft dodge...” _

_ The cup dents. _

_ “Atlas lost a whole damn generation. Huntsmen, civilians, soldiers... And I... Gods...” _

_ The cup explodes in her hand. She doesn't notice. _

_ “I’ve got so much damn blood on my hands.” _

  
  
  


_ Jaune is sitting in the same chair, head laid back.  _

_ “Why did we leave the others, at the start of it? They weren’t doing anything. They didnt know what the best move was so they stayed still. We... Ren came to us, one night. He sat down with the rest of us in the kitchen for some kinda team meeting. Said, “I cant just sit by any longer. We arent students anymore. I want to be out there helping people.” So we left. Traveled to the villages, slaying grimm, training. We got a lot stronger... with the things Ruby learned from... We got a lot stronger.” _

_ He raises a fist and Aura flares around it, sparking and glowing. _

_ “Bandits attacked one night. That was the first time I ever killed a real human being. She vicious, had these claws on her... she nearly gutted me, but I stabbed her through the heart. She didnt die immediately. She cried.”  _

_ He looks into the distance.  _

_ “She died crying in her killers arms. I did nothing wrong, she was trying to kill me and I killed her in self defense. I still see her face in my dreams. She wins sometimes. And I die crying into her shoulder.” _

_ He shuddered. _

_ “And then I killed two more that night. The feeling of crushing a skull underneath a shield is not a thing I recommend as an experience.”  _

  
  
  


_ Its a video from early in the war. Ren and Nora are limping through the rubble of what was once a peaceful desert city in vacuo. Their weapons are visibly bloody. They stumble into cover, and the camera catches them taking short shuddering breaths as they reload their weapons with shaky hands. Nora nearly drops a grenade, just a metal canister. She hasn't taken the time to modify these with the pink paints and dyes. _

_ The camera shakes slightly as it catches a pair of Atlesian soldiers slinking through the rubble along the path they just came from, but the cameraman stays put. The soldiers white combat armor is stained with mud. One of them is a little shorter, and their gun is a little less steady. It shakes in their hand as they move forward.  _

_ Nora puts her reloaded grenade launcher behind her back, and draws a heavy silver revolver. The camera is too far away to pick it up, but the grip is imprinted with a red rose. She leans against the wall and inhales, before she drops to one knee, pivoting and ducking out from behind cover. Both soldiers drop in an instant, helmets gone and brains splattered across the destroyed tank behind them. _

_ Nora just looks a little sad. _


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short scenes from Atlesian horror films.

_ SCENE FROM: DEEP FREEZE _

 

_ Its nearly a quarter of the way through the movie. So far its been victorious. Atlas is pushing back an incursion on its eastern front, due in part to consistent snowstorms giving their cold weather experience a use. _

_ “Shut up burns.” _

_ “Im just sayin she has ni-” A scruffy looking man in Atlas alabaster fatigues says. _

_ “Shut the FUCK up.” The officer growls, lighting up a ciggarette. _

_ The two are leaning against the side of an inactive winter camo Bullhead, a snowstorm raging about them. The mechanic is playing with a Valian assault rifle.  _

_ “Huh. I don't much care for these kinetic rifles. Give me a good dust rifle anyday.” _

_ The officer ignores him.  _

_ Running footsteps are heard from off screen. The officer steps forward and looks in the direction, and a running infantry woman comes into view. _

_ “RUN! ITS SOME KINDA GRIMM ARMY! THEYRE ALL W-” and shes cut off by crimson suddenly soaking her clothes as an icicle erupts from her chest. _

_ The Bullhead is tossed away like a toy by a roaring wave of ice, the mechanic starts yelling. The officer is frozen only with fear, looking into the distance. It looks like an army, grimm, Atlas mecha, all unnerving whites and blues are charging through the snow.  _

_ A silhouette of a woman is then visible, tall and lithe. Rapier held low as she walks primly toward the officer. He meets her eye, and she his. He turns and starts to run, screaming: “ITS HER! ITS SCHN-” _

_ Myrtenaster skewers him, and he is lifted up in the air, and flung off to the side with a flourish, as though he were a bit of liquid on the blades tip. _

_ “Its Schnee.” The woman who is playing Weiss Schnee flatly intones. _

 

_ SCENE FROM: BLOOD ROSE _

 

_ It's the end of the movie. The protagonist, a young officer named Vassel, and a scientist have been staying one step ahead of the violence. They are currently trying to make it into the panic room at the center of the base. The cello is playing a bassy hum as they open the first door of the airlock, the camera whipping around as though the monster might leap out from anywhere.  _

_ “The grimm will be too dumb to find us in here, we’ll call for backup and wait for some huntsmen to get here.” _

_ “Do you really think all the commanders got out alive?” _

_ “They had to have. They were Huntsmen, they just didn't realize any of us were left alive!” _

_ The airlock closes behind them and the music cuts out completely. This is the first completely clean place they've seen. Not even a speck of blood is in the hallway between the first and second airlock doors. _

_ Its victorious. They hug, and cry, as the second set of doors open they stumble in... _

_ And it's nauseating. Its poorly lit. There are corpses everywhere, blood across all the walls. In the center of the room is a table, and their commanders, who they thought had escaped are strewn across it. A huge screen on the far side of the room is flashing the Atlas Insignia, static occasionally jarring it. But over the screen, painted in still wet blood, is a bright red rose. _

_ The door closes behind them.  _

_ The woman covers her mouth, trying not to throw up. The officer seems about to cry. _

_ The camera pans over the room, conspicuously landing in a completely pitch dark corner. Two pin pricks of silver light up in that darkness.  _

_ The camera goes back to the two protagonists as the familiar sound of mekashift overpowers every other sound. _

_ “It... It wasn’t a grim...” The officer whispers. _

_ “No.” A figure cloaked in red rasps behind them, voice nearly inhuman, a massive scythe resting over its hunched, too sharp shoulder. “It wasn’t.”  _

_ It cuts to black, over the sound of their screams. _


	5. Fable

 

_A fable found in a book from long before the second great war. It was recovered during a raid on the headquarters of a notorious criminal in the city of Argus. This fable is recorded in the Shade Academy Library Database, while the physical copy remains with General Ironwood, who was given it as a gift by the officer who led the raid, along with a collection of other odd items._

 

                The Bishop walked the face of remnant, wandering and exploring, a silver eyed blade in the darkness. A hero who walked across the land. The children lured her, telling her of how to fix the darkness. But they lied. They drove her from the village and into the arms of a cotton mouthed monster who gave her heart to a madwoman, and she who stole the Bishop’s heart in the cursed town of Salem gave it back, fractured and cursed, a sliver of darkness wrapped in silver cord.

                The darkness, now bent to the Bishop’s will sought the cotton mouthed monster, sought the madwoman, sought the children, sought all of Salem. And then the Bishop willed the darkness away, hid them from humanity. She succeeded where all the other pieces on the board had failed.

                She protected the world from the darkness that had ravaged it since time immemorial. Then she watched as humanity flourished, a hundred years past. And then war broke out, and they drew swords on one another.

                Humanity spilled its own blood, in the name of greed and hate and love. In the name of gods who had long abandoned the remnant of their heaven.

                The Bishop looked to the King for an answer, and found it lacking. She turned her silver blade to the king, and every leader who sought war, but a silver glint from the shadows couldn’t stop humanity from warring against itself. Even in moments of peace, the cursed turned blades to each other, and those who once walked as heroes became monsters.

                The Bishop couldn’t escape that fate, even as her silver glint turned blood red and her scarred flesh paled. Even as what should have been the color of snow turned to the color of darkness.

                So she stole a name.

                And she sought to punish humanity for squandering the gift she gave them. The peace from the darkness.

                So she brought the darkness back. And the monsters with silver blades became heroes again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter because hey, I wanted to actually give a legitimate update of some kind after not updating Alternative for more than half a year. 
> 
> Firstly, Alternative. The "Rewrite" turned into more of an edit, with some new scenes tossed in here and there. I will be posting it when I post the next Chapter of Alt, which will probably still take awhile. I plan on writing the next chapter of the Time Travel fic sooner because it’s easier to write.
> 
> Secondly, I watched volume six. The obvious break in continuity, which I can go into a lot more detail on if asked, happens sometime shortly after the battle at Haven, when team RNJR play with the lamp (Which has different powers than the Djinn in Alt.) and decide to go to Vacuo and disappear in the night.
> 
> Thirdly, my actual thoughts on volume six are... Hm. Hmmm. Hey, a kind of vindication from the Grimm Reaper, feeling bad about not dying in battle. Also, sassy grandma and the Argus Atlas crew are entertaining and fun. Kind of. Annoyed with all of team RWBY in this volume. Also, god damn it Saffron. Why did you have to steal the name AND be likeable. Also, damn, Leviathan was. A disappointment. So to summarize my thoughts on volume six, I loved all the new characters, was kind of disappointed in team RWBY, and especially with the way Ruby wound up being characterized. Which was just, standard protagonist of a shonen type thing. 
> 
> Also, kind of starting to feel like writing all this shit in my head about what happened in the Second Great War. Thoughts?


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